Cushioned back for a seat



Nov. 10, 1936. 1, N R T AL 2,060,449

CUSHIONED BACK FOR A SEAT Original Filed Feb. 20, 1933 IN vE/v-raesJV/ma/w Arroelvzx Patented Nov. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECUSHIONED BACK FOR A SEAT Isaac Singer, Adolph Singer, and Hyman Singer,Montreal, Quebec, Canada 1 Claim.

The invention relates to a cushioned back for a seat, as described inthe present specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawingthat forms part of the same.

The invention consists essentially in the association of yielding andspring members and their application to a frame, as pointed out in theclaims for novelty following a description in detail of the structuralfeatures.

The objects of the invention are to construct a cushion back,particularly suitable for armchairs and chesterfields though useful alsoin other articles of furniture, and to do this always with a view ofattaining the utmost comfort without weakening the cushion throughinsuring this ease; to offer facilities for the manufacturers in theproduction, especially in the matter of eliminating many of thestufiings usual to this class of furniture and thereby reducing firerisks and replacing highly skilled upholsterers with good all aroundworkers, which is a great advantage in the trade; to obtain the bestsanitary results in furniture manufacture, as in stuffed goods andstufiing mentioned aforesaid germs may lurk, and be practicallyimpossible to expel by the use of disinfectants, while in the presentconstruction the cushion is constantly aerated by its daily use, andgenerally to provide a high class cushion back at a reasonable cost tothe manufacturer, and a chair or couch susceptible to simple orelaborate finishings for the consumer.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevational view of a chair showingthe back partly in front elevation and partly stripped to disclose thespring construction.

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of the back, showing the coverremoved to disclose the spring construction from the rear.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view showing the constructionof the spring cushion in relation to the case and the rear supports.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of an envelope looking at the back andshowing the back panel lifted to expose the interior of the envelope.

Figure 5 is a side view of the envelope shown in Figure 4.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the variousfigures.

The principal description of the details of this invention, is confinedto its application to the back of an arm chair or chesterfield, furtherdescribed in a copending application filed under Serial Number 657,508,on February 20, 1933, and from which this subject matter has beendivided.

In this arm chair, the back frame is preferab y of wood, though it maybe of any material desired, and in regard to its general form, is ofconventional pattern.

Referring to the drawing, the pieces indicated by the numerals l5, I6and I1 represent an arm structure from the top downwardly, while thebars I8 in rectangular form constitute the seat frame as part of thewhole frame, this seat frame being supported on the legs Hi.

There is nothing novel about the seat frame, it is the same as has beenmade in the past.

The side boards I! of the arm structure are secured at'the front andrear ends to the seat frame l8, leaving an elongated slot 20 on eitherside.

The back frame 22 as usual extends upwardly considerably above the armframes and downwardly to the seat frame I8, being rigidly securedthereto, and having the cross bar 23 rigidly secured to the reducedsides 24 of said back frame above the seat frame l8, leaving the crossslot 25.

The arcuate bars 26 and 21 extend upwardly from the cross bar 23 oneither side towards the sides 24 and join said sides 24 at or about theends of the reduced sides 24, where the said sides 24 extend into theupper curved bar 28 of the back frame.

This completes the description of the wooden frame in which the slightdeparture from the conventional are extremely important so much so as tolend themselves to the fitting of both the inner resilient padding orcovering and the outer removable covering of textile material.

The sides, top and bottom of the spring case for the chair back, areformed by a strip or strips of sponge rubber 4'! nailed or otherwisesecured to the frame, while the front is formed of the sponge rubberblanket 48 cemented to said strip or strips, thus completing the springcase for the spiral springs 49, these springs 49 having the spongerubber strips 50 threaded therethrough at the rear ends of the springcoils and secured to the upper bar 28 and the cross bar 23.

Besides the sponge rubber strips, the extended or stretched spiralsknown in the trade as the pigtails 5|, are threaded through the spiralsprings, up and across at the back and completely around at the frontand attached to the back frame if required, which with the cords 52tying the springs together at the front, maintain this cushion ofsprings in place in the case, formed by the sponge rubber sides andfront, these sides as aforesaid, being secure with the frame 22.

The envelope for the back is made in the shape of the frame, whateverthat may be and of the spring case hereinbefore described.

The frame illustrated has a wide upper portion and the envelope 1!!contains the wide upper portion and is formed with a front panel 8|, arear panel 82 and a spacing strip 80. The front panel 8| forms acomplete closure with the strip 86 while the back panel 82 is joined tothe strip at the top and sides down to the lacing 93. The lower panel 83is formed as an extension of the strip 80 from its lower rear edge andhas the row of eyelets B4 thereacross towards the lower edge and ispulled through the cross slot 25 and is fastened to nail heads from therear cross bar of the seat frame I8, or to the back. The lower edge ofthe back panel 82 forming the skirt, is pulled down and has eyelets 85near the edge, by means of which it is fastened to the bottom of therear cross bar of the seat frame IS, in both cases nail heads beingprovided for the fastening.

The tongues 86 and 81, one on either side, extend from the rear edge ofthe strip 80 below the arm structure, and have the rows of eyelets 8112by means of which these tongues are fastened to the arcuate bars 26 and2'! respectively, there being nail heads 86a for that purpose from thesearcuate bars.

The back piece 82 is inwardly cut on either side at 89 and 90 and thefastener parts 9| are placed in rows near the edges and cooperate withfastener parts 92 on the back frame.

The fastening 93 closes in at each side slits left in the joining of thedepth strip 80 to the panel 82 necessary to enable the under upperportion of the back to be readily removed and replaced.

The back with the outer covering on is complete and it will readily beseen that as a piece of furniture, it is both useful and ornamental,useful from the fact that there is no stuffing in so far as the ordinaryuse of the term is concerned, for stuffing generally means some kind ofwadding, hair or other kind of threadlike or flufiy material. Suchmaterial is eliminated from the upholstery work and the elimination ofthis material means of course sanitation as well as facilitatingrepairs.

There can be no lasting impression left in the sponge rubber such as iscommon in conventional stuffing and the economy in production and inmaintenance is considerable, because of the greatly reduced number ofnecessary repairs.

In so far as the envelopes for the outer coverings are concerned, itwill be seen that they are made to fit in with the construction of theframe, in fact the only departures from the conventional, in theconstruction of the frame are those to suit these outer covers. Allkinds of slip covers have been in use for centuries, therefore inrespect to the outer covering of the chair the idea is not the slipcover, but rather the removal of finishing as it is actually the dresscovering of the chair and may be of beautiful and extremely expensivematerial.

There is another feature in this chair construction which has beentreated rather sparingly in the description and that is the spongerubber strips or straps reinforcing the springs of the back.

These spiral springs and these main cushion spiral springs and the tyingspirals are used in spring mats, but the sponge rubber strips or strapsconstitute a new resilient feature, particularly in spring backs, orrather they may be called distinctly an elastic feature for theyconstitute an additional yielding movement that materially adds to thecomfortable condition of the chair.

Besides, the reinforcing properties must not be lost sight of, for withthis construction, the back will maintain its shape for a long periodand continue always to insure the full benefits from the cushion.

It will, of course be seen in regard to both comfort and durability thatthe sponge rubber straps hold the coils of the spring from going too farback, a very important feature, and besides this, eliminates noiseentirely, which is always to a more or less extent, an objection inspring cushioned devices.

It may be remarked in further explanation of the outer coverings thatthere is no confusion at all with what are familiarly known as slipcovers, for the very good reason that in this invention, the outercovering is formed in sections and the frame prepared for it.Consequently, this covering constitutes that part of the upholsteringwhich closes in the inner padding or elastic stufiing, and as that ismade in a particular way, these removable covers may be readily takenaway and replaced by others which would still constitute the finishingmaterial.

What we claim is:-

A cushioned back for a seat comprising a frame of vertical and upper andlower horizontal bars forming a rigid back, intermediate vertical barssecured to the lower horizontal bar and curved outwardly to join thevertical bars of said frame, closely spaced from and forming pairs withsaid first mentioned vertical bars, fastening studs secured in the rearsurfaces of said frame and vertical bars, a cushion for said framecomprising resilient strips vertically spaced and secured at their endsto said horizontal bars, springs mounted on said resilient strips andprojecting forwardly therefrom, and a cover fitted over said frame andenclosing said springs, an envelope having front and back panels and aspacing strip, flaps attached to the rear edge of said envelope adaptedto be threaded through between said spaced vertical bars and havingeyelets for attaching said envelope and flaps to the fastening studs ofthe vertical bars and enclose the cushioned back of the seat.

ISAAC SINGER. ADOLPH SINGER. HYMAN SINGER.

